Munster move interests Murphy

IRISH international full back Geordan Murphy will consider a return to Ireland when his contract with Leicester Tigers expires.

Yesterday he admitted: “My future is up for grabs, Munster would be the kind of team that you would love to play for, but that’s really not to say anything. Right now, I’m a Leicester player and what happens in a year’s time is anyone’s guess,” he said.

Murphy expressed his disappointment at Leicester’s defeat to Munster but paid tribute to the Irish side’s battling finish.

“I actually thought we had won it but Rog (Ronan O’Gara) made the huge decision to kick a penalty from inside his own half.

“It was brave beyond belief. He knew Munster’s challenge would sink or swim on it but he took it on board and got the points.”

The Kildare native accepted that the Heineken Cup champions were now favourites to win out in Pool Four.

But he adds that the Tigers are not throwing in the towel.

“We are in a difficult situation having lost at home in our opening game, but we know, especially after looking at the other result, that we have a chance to come through.

“It might all come down to the last match at Thomond Park.

“That is obviously going to be difficult, and it is imperative that we get a positive result on the road against Cardiff next week.

“Otherwise, we are in really serious trouble,” he said.

Murphy, who missed Sunday’s tie after sustaining an eye injury in training on Friday, expects to be back to play against Cardiff.

“It was not a major problem, the ball hit me in the eye and it was a case of blurred vision more than anything. On Sunday, I could have called in fit but the decision to play a team had already been made,” he said.

Murphy’s skipper Martin Corry didn’t pull any punches after his side’s last-gasp defeat at home.

“The winner of our group has got to go 5 and 1 to reach the knockout stages. We have had our one loss — now we’ve got to win all our remaining games,” he said.

“We aren’t going to fold. We know exactly what we have to do.”

He continued: “We felt we had them up front, but it’s all about having the basics in order to make the pressure tell,” said Corry.

“We had two chances to score in the first half and we didn’t take either of them. Their scores came easily in the first half, whereas we had to work much harder for our points. We did catch up, and we had the momentum going into the last 10 minutes, but we just couldn’t hold out.”

Tigers head coach Pat Howard says his team must now “dust themselves off” before going to Cardiff at the weekend to meet the Blues at the Millennium Stadium.

“Munster were in exactly our position last season after they lost at Sale. We have got to deal with it, dust ourselves off and move on to Cardiff,” said Howard.

Cardiff Blues and Wales flanker Robin Sowden-Taylor promises a warm welcome for the Tigers in their Sunday showdown. The Blues are reporting sales of well over 10,000 for the Millennium Stadium match after deciding the lure of the Tigers would outstretch the Cardiff Arms Park’s capacity of 13,000. Sowden-Taylor, though ruled out through injury, admits confidence is high in the Blues squad after a series of good results.

“The boys have been playing well, especially against Wasps and Saracens. We’re hitting the form we hope to take into Europe and hopefully will stand us in good stead for the rest of the season,” he added.